Detroit Pistons: Twitter Reaction to Selection of Stanley Johnson
The Detroit Pistons selected Arizona SF, Stanley Johnson with the eight overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft on Thursday night.
Stanley's the selection at 8.
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) June 26, 2015
Welcome to the #Pistons @IamSJ! #DetroitBasketball pic.twitter.com/lAz4mRkGaD
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Johnson had been widely predicted to be a target of head coach Stan Van Gundy in the weeks leading up to the draft, but when Detroit went on the clock at No. 8, the Motor City was beginning to rumble.
The reason?
A proven winner at Duke, Justise Winslow was still available.
With the eighth pick the Detroit Pistons select Stanley Johnson. With Justise Winslow on the board. First big mistake of the night.
— NBA Big Board (@chadfordinsider) June 26, 2015
Following the selection, Pistons fans and even members of the media made their opinions of the pick known via twitter.
Stanley Johnson reportedly will be Pistons' pick at No. 8. No Winslow, no trade down. Van Gundy better be right on this one.
— Bob Wojnowski (@bobwojnowski) June 26, 2015
Stanley Johnson is better than Justise Winslow or Stan Van Gundy's honeymoon is over. Winslow was there.
— Graham Couch (@Graham_Couch) June 26, 2015
Justise Winslow slips all the way to your pick and you choose Stanley Johnson?
— ᗩᑎT ᗯᖇIGᕼT (@itsAntWright) June 26, 2015
Pistons grabbed Stanley Johnson when Justise Winslow was there… Man…
— Steve Noah (@Steve_OS) June 26, 2015
"Stanley Johnson is Justise Winslow, only a little bit worse": @ReidForgrave surprised by #Pistons pick #FOXSportsNBADraft
— FOX Sports Radio (@FoxSportsRadio) June 26, 2015
So Stanley Johnson over Justise Winslow is this year's KCP over Trey Burke.
— Dave Hogg ✨ (@stareagle) June 26, 2015
For stat heads, @FiveThirtyEight had Stanley Johnson as 3rd best prospect behind KAT ........ and Justise Winslow pic.twitter.com/z8MvPLiEwE
— Detroit Bad Boys ☠ (@detroitbadboys) June 26, 2015
Of course, there were some who actually liked the pick, and those who didn’t, may have had their concerns eased (at least for a moment) once Johnson dropped this well-known one liner:
For me personally, I’m not going to be to harsh on Van Gundy for this pick due to my faith in his talent evaluating abilities.
However I will say that the more film I watched on Johnson, the more my concerns did grow.
Johnson is a big, strong individual. There is no denying that. However, at times it almost seemed as if he used his size and strength to get over on his opponents in college.
While that is certainly fine and all, the NBA is a different animal and everyone is bigger and stronger.
In 2014-15, Johnson averaged 13.8 PPG and 6.5 RPG for the Wildcats, but his best attribute could be his ability to guard all five positions.
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